CLEVELAND (OH)
Plain Dealer
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Frank Bentayou
Plain Dealer Reporter
Ask any experienced fund-raiser, and the story's the same: Building confidence and trust means everything when you go to the well year after year.
The Cleveland Catholic Diocese is trying to bolster both qualities as it moves toward a more transparent, better informed budgeting process, according to John Maimone, chief financial officer.
The eight-county diocese, representing some 800,000 Catholics, still stings from a 2004 financial scandal.
It also made more than $14 million in payouts for settlements and legal costs in response to priests' sexual abuse of children.
Though many abuse charges surfaced only in recent years, reported events go back more than half a century.
The diocese took a step toward managing fiscal credibility, it announced recently, appointing three new professional members to the finance council that advises Maimone and Bishop Anthony Pilla on budgets.